Now and Forever
by Pan1
Summary: TP Fic! Surprised? Didn't think so...Pan leaves for college and meets a new friend, then a new enemy comes and Pan starts training with her new friend who is not human...R&R Please!
1. Things I'll Never Say

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ**

**Authors note: So I decided to take the advice from my only posting review and shorten this thing down. I'm cutting a lot out, and making the chapters shorter. I guess having shorter chapters helps people get to a stopping point and able to save their 'progress' easier. I don't like sitting and reading 10pg chapters, why should I write them??? **

**I'll keep my long and drawn out story to myself ******

**Now and Forever**

**Prologue – Things I'll Never Say**

Pan sat by the window watching the sun rise. She peeled her eyes away from the sun and looked at Bra's room; they had gotten together with Stephanie and Trisha, to hang out for the evening. It ended up getting so late they all stayed over.

It was such a beautiful sight, she loved to watch the sun rise and set. She leaned against the window and heaved a big sigh. She wanted to get out of the house and go relax outside. She stood and tiptoed to the bedroom door, careful not to wake the girls she opened the door and backed out of the room running into something hard. She covered her mouth to stop from yelling.

"Trunks!" She hissed. "What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me!"

Trunks laughed quietly. He loved seeing her so flustered; it was worth his early rise just for that.

"I was going to the bathroom; you came out of the room and bumped into me." Trunks winked at Pan before disappearing into the bathroom to his left.

Pan crossed her arms, that baka! She stalked to the stairs and made her way outside.

It was a cool morning with a slight breeze. The dew on the grass seeped through her socks and soon her feet were wet; but she didn't care she walked around capsule corp until she finally stopped at the back of the building. She sat down and stared up at the sky, it was a shade of purple now and the sun was almost through the horizon. She smiled as she relaxed against the wall. It was going to be a great day…

_Through the circular window she could see millions of stars. She couldn't believe how bright they were! It was so pretty, but overwhelming. There was no bottom to space, they could fall and never hit bottom. That was not a good feeling. Pan pushed herself back into her seat and closed her eyes. She didn't want to look again it was unnerving. _

"_What's the matter Pan?" Trunks asked. _

"_Nothing." Pan lied, her voice gave her away. _

_Trunks smiled a reassuring smile at her, _

"_Don't worry, my kasan built this ship! It's going to be great!" _

_Pan nodded. She tried to smile, but her face faltered. Her grandpa was eating his fifth meal since they left earth and was unbeknownst to her fear. Even though he was back to being a child, he ate more than ever! _

"_Really Pan, there's nothing to worry about." Trunks sat down next to her, "I'm here, and I'll protect you."_

Pan looked up into his eyes, he wouldn't lie to her. 

"_You promise?" She asked._

"_I promise, I will protect you now and forever." He replied._

_Now and Forever. _

"Pan!"

Pan jerked her head up, she had dozed off sitting next to the house. What had woken her?

"Pan!"

Pan looked up, so that was what woke her. Bra was hanging out of her window looking down at her.

"I was watching the Sun rise and must have dozed off!" Pan said.

"Well come on, we want to go to the mall in a couple hours." Bra disappeared back into her room and Pan frowned. Great…shopping with those three, that was going to be torture.

Pan flew up to the open window and into Bra's bedroom. Stephanie was laughing at something Trisha said, and Bra was walking into the bathroom that was attached to her room. Pan landed on Bra's bed and crossed her legs.

"Trisha was just making a comment about how Goten wouldn't like Bra's hair." Stephanie whispered to Pan.

"I can hear you!" Bra snapped.

Pan smirked. Bra was too easy to pick on.

Bra slammed the bathroom door and the girls could hear the shower being turned on.

"Honestly, she just needs to get with Goten already." Trisha said as she folded up her blanket. "The tension between them is killing me."

"Hai, and for Dende's sake she needs to quite denying it!" Stephanie added.

"Well I for one think it's Goten who needs to suck it up and admit it." Pan said through a yawn.

Trisha shrugged,

"Well one of them better make a move soon. And you too…you need to get with Trunks soon."

Pan's eyes flashed angrily.

"Nani?!" She spat, "I don't want to get with Trunks, and plus he has a girlfriend already!"

"Iie, that wont last. He's been with her for almost two years and hasn't asked her to marry him, that just shouts uncertainty." Stephanie shook her head.

Pan raised her eye brow,

"Uncertainty?" She repeated, "That doesn't make any sense, why stay with her all this time if he doesn't want to be with her?"

"Safety," Trisha answered, "He appears to be unavailable to keep all the vultures off of him."

Stephanie let out a laugh. Pan scowled and crossed her arms, would Trunks really only go out with Maria to keep other girls off of him?

"I suppose he must have some feelings for her, but she is going to grow impatient with him." Trisha said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What do you mean?" Pan asked confused.

Stephanie rolled her eyes,

"Pan, she is going to want him to show her that he is committed to their relationship; that he wants to be with her, to purpose!" She said.

Pan's eyes widened,

"Don't worry, he would have done that already if he was going to." Trisha said.

Pan couldn't keep the relief from showing up on her face. Her two friends smiled knowingly at her. She narrowed her eyes and scowled. So they were right, she wanted to be with Trunks, but that wasn't going to happen…at least not anytime soon. She was getting ready to go to college and probably wouldn't see him for four years. Pan lowered her head and frowned, she hadn't been away from Trunks that long before; ever since they came back from space they had been around each other very often. Pan had gotten close to Bra, so she was with her all the time; which meant that she was around Trunks all the time too.

Bra came out of the bathroom drying her hair, a towel wrapped around her. She saw the look on Pans face and frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"Oh, she's just upset because she wants to get with Trunks but he's supposedly taken." Stephanie explained as she got dressed.

Pan glared at her,

"Ok, she's not." Trisha winked at Bra.

"That relationship is not going to last, if my nii-san hasn't purposed yet then he's not going to." Bra explained.

"Could we stop talking about who I do or don't want to get with?" Pan asked hotly.

"Fine!" Stephanie snapped, "Let's talk about when you're leaving for college."

Pan was about to respond then closed her mouth; she didn't want to talk about that either.

"What's the date again?" Trisha asked quietly.

"August 13th." Pan replied.

"Nani?!" Bra exclaimed, "Pan, that's only three days away!"

Pan nodded, don't they think she knew that? Tears began to well up in Bra's eyes. Pan looked away, why was she crying?

"This sucks!" Bra cried, "My best friend is leaving for college and I'm not going to see her for four years!"

Pan's eyes widened in shock, what was she talking about. She was going to visit, and probably talk over the phone quite a bit.

"Bra, I'm not going to disappear for four years!" Pan tried to calm her down, "I'll be visiting as much as possible!"

Bra wiped a tear away and smiled at Pan,

"We both know you won't make it up here even half as often as you think you will."

Pan frowned. Bra was right; she probably wouldn't have time to come back as often as she was thinking she might. She wouldn't know until she got into her classes and saw how hard it was going to be. Pan walked towards the door; she wasn't feeling much like talking right now.

"I'm going to the kitchen to get something to eat." Pan said.

Pan heard Bra 'humpf' as she backed out of the room for the second time that morning. She shut the door and turned straight into someone. It was Trunks again,

"Trunks!" Pan jumped, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Trunks laughed again,

"Iie, you seem to be running into me, not the other way around, Pan."

Pan was about to retort when her stomach gave a loud growl.

"Ah, I'm starved too." Trunks grinned. "Come on, I'll fix us something to eat."

Pan blushed; she followed Trunks down to the first floor kitchen.

"I'd like to see what you can fix." Pan mumbled.

"What was that?" Trunks asked over his shoulder.

"Oh, nothing." Pan's cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

They reached the kitchen and Pan sat down at the kitchen island. She watched as Trunks grabbed a box of cereal and the milk out of the fridge. He made them each a heaping bowl of cereal and placed one in front of Pan. He sat next to her and handed her a spoon,

"This is the extent of my cooking." He smiled.

Pan smirked, she should have known this was what she was going to get. She smiled back and began to eat.

"So I think I heard you're going off to college soon?" Trunks said through a mouthful.

Pan nodded,

"Hai, in three days."

Trunks spit out some of his milk,

"Three days!" He said shocked, "How come you didn't say anything?"

Pan shrugged,

"Not exactly something I'd walk up to you and say 'Hey Trunks guess what? I'm leaving for college in a couple months'" Pan said sarcastically.

Trunks chuckled,

"Hai, I guess you're right. Well I'm going to miss you. You've been around so often, it's going to be like loosing a sister."

Pan felt a pain in her chest she couldn't explain. He had said she was like a sister to him; that hurt her. She could only manage to nod in response. For some reason she couldn't find her voice. She swallowed the bite in her mouth as her heart was screaming at her. She saw in her mind what she wished she could say to him,

"_A sister? I thought I meant more to you than that!" Pan glared at him._

"_Of course you do, but I didn't want to presume." Trunks looked flustered. _

"_Well don't then, you know that I've always had a thing for you." Pan whispered._

_Trunks' cheeks flushed as he smiled at her,_

"_Well I've had a thing for you for awhile too."_

_Pan's eyes widened, Trunks reached over and pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her lips. _

Pan coughed and some of her milk spilled down her chin. Trunks reached over and wiped it off with his thumb and continued to eat without saying anything.

The two began to laugh as she finally got ahold of herself and began to eat again.

The door bell rang just as they were about to go out back for a spar.

"Hold that thought." Trunks grumbled.

Pan followed him to the door; he was walking to the door backwards pointing at her as he walked,

"Don't even think about going anywhere, you owe me a good fight." He said jokingly.

Pan snickered, and as he opened the door she replied,

"Yea like you wont try to come up with some excuse to keep me from beating you."

Trunks laughed as the door opened Pan saw who was there and her face fell. Trunks stopped laughing and looked uncomfortable. It was Maria.


	2. Uncertainty

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ**

**Author's note: Ok here is Chapter 1 shortened, I hope more of you will read now!**

**Chapter 1 – Uncertainty**

Pan wished she weren't there, that she could disappear! What was this girl going to think? Or worse, what was she about to say? Pan closed her eyes getting ready for the shouting match she was sure was about to ensue. Nothing happened…she opened one eye slightly to see what was going on. Trunks was just staring at her, still looking very uncomfortable. He had this 'You caught me' look on his face, even though they hadn't done anything.

"Maria!" Trunks croaked, "I wasn't expecting you."

"I can see that." Maria seethed.

"Uh." Trunks looked very nervous, what was he going to say? "Pan and I were just having breakfast, and thought we might go outside for a flight. I mean a fight! A spar! You know, just fighting."

Maria put a hand on her hip and she glared at Trunks, her eyes looked dangerous, and she had the death glare down to a T. Trunks shrunk back from her, afraid of what would happen when she exploded. He grabbed the back of his head nervously and smiled at her,

"So what ah…what brings you here…so…so early?" He stuttered.

"Well since it seems that you've forgotten!" Maria snarled, "I'll refresh your memory. We were supposed to go to breakfast this morning at Jackies Diner!"

Her face was turning red as she inched inside the front door. Pan didn't know why she was still there, but something about seeing Maria this way was comical to her. She wasn't about to laugh, that would make things worse for Trunks; then again…She let out a laugh and smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" She demanded, "Trying to steal my boyfriend and think its funny?"

"Hey! I wasn't trying to steal him; you just misunderstood my comment to mean something inappropriate. That is your fault, not mine!" Pan fumed.

Pan took a couple steps towards Maria, she was extremely upset and wasn't sure why. She glowered at Maria and held up a fist,

"Would you rather that I took you out back and beat you instead of Trunks?" Pan asked haughtily.

Maria stepped back; she didn't look mad anymore but looked terrified of Pan.

"Pan!" Trunks said warningly, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm teaching this little human some manners!" Pan snapped.

Trunks looked even more uncomfortable now; he stepped between the two girls and held up his hands,

"Woah now, let's just take a deep breath and calm down." He said. "Pan we can spar later."

Maria crossed her arms and glared at him,

"So now you're not even going to defend me or take my side? This is crazy! Why don't you just date her if you care about her so much! Go have your stupid spar!"

Maria tossed her hair and stormed back out the open front door. She made her way back to her car and climbed in. She had started the car and drove away before Trunks realized what happened. He slammed the front door

"She is getting so impossible!" Trunks snapped, "She wants to be together twenty-four seven then freaks out if she even sees me near a girl. And for goodness sake it's just you!"

Pan glared at Trunks,

"You know what I meant!" Trunks growled. "She is so jealous lately."

"Well she obviously doesn't feel secure in your relationship." Pan offered, "She must feel uncertain about it."

"Whatever."

Trunks just waved a hand and stomped his way towards the back yard fuming. He stopped when he saw Pan wasn't following him; he spun around and glared at her,

"You coming?" He demanded.

Pan looked startled; she walked over to him and nodded. He obviously had some feelings for Maria; otherwise he wouldn't be so upset. He was storming outside like a crazy man. Pan smirked in spite of herself and crossed her arms. She followed him outside and he rose into the air in a combat stance. Pan jumped into the air and dropped into her own. She could tell that this was going to be a good fight, Trunks was so pissed off right now that he wasn't thinking clearly.

Trunks lunged at her and they began to trade some punches, Pan landed a punch to his ribs and kicked at his legs, Trunks blocked and punched her in the jaw. She flew backwards a few feet before catching herself and flying back at him, she traded some more kicks and punches with him then shot a ki blast at him. He batted it away easily and shot his own at her. She blocked it with her arms and sweat beads formed on her arms from the heat. She flew back at him and her punch connected with his shoulder, he gritted his teeth and kicked her hard to her shin. She dropped a few feet before continuing their fight. She shot another ki blast at him and he dodged it, it shot towards the ground and blew up one of the many lawn furniture sets. Pan didn't watch to see what happened to it, but followed Trunks. They rose higher in the air as they continued to trade punches and kicks. They were each landing an equal amount and neither of them were tired yet. Trunks shot another ki blast at Pan and she batted it away. It flew into the side of one of the buildings leaving a gaping hole. Neither of them paid attention to it and kept on with their spar.

"Trunks!!!" Bulma's voice rang out through the back yard.

Pan and Trunks stopped mid punch to look down at his blue haired kasan. She was storming towards them with her hands on her hips, pure rage showing on her face.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Bulma demanded, "You have ruined my lawn furniture and put a whole in the house! Are you even thinking? We have two Gravity rooms for this!!"

"Gomen, Kasan!" Trunks called down.

Pan dropped to the ground, and Trunks reluctantly followed suit. He looked like he was five being yelled at for leaving his toy in the middle of the room. His head was lowered and his shoulders hunched over. He walked towards his kasan with a defeated look on his face.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not spar in the garden?" Bulma seethed, "And you!"

She turned to Pan who stepped back nervously. Pan held her hands up in defense,

"Hey! Don't put me in the middle of this." She said.

"You put yourself in the middle of this!" Bulma snapped, "You know not to fight outside either! You'll ruin everything!"

Pan dropped her arms and frowned, she nodded. She should have taken it to the gravity room. She chanced a look at Trunks, but he was still staring at his toes waiting for his kasan to finish her yelling. Pan sighed and moved her eyes to her own feet.

"Both of you go get cleaned up, and no more sparring!" Bulma growled, "Trunks I need you to run some papers to the office for me, and Pan I think the girls are asking where you went off to. They said something about the mall."

Pan grimaced; she was not wanting to go spend a day at the mall. She didn't argue though, and followed Trunks into the house. They didn't say a word to each other until they were on the third floor and Trunks let out a whistle,

"It's times like those that I see why tousan spends most of his time in the gravity room." He said. "She can definitely handle a Saiyajin…"

Pan made her way back to Bra's room and wasn't surprised to see the three girls huddled over the vanity. She tried to tiptoe past them and into Bra's room but,

"Pan!" Bra swung around to glare at her best friend, "Where have you gone this time?"

Pan stopped and smiled awkwardly.

"Well I had breakfast with Trunks," She began to explain, Stephanie and Trisha both snapped their heads to look at Pan, "And we had decided to go out back for a spar when the door bell rang. Well it was Maria at the door, so you can imagine how that went."

The three girls gasped and put their hands over their mouths.

"She just yelled at Trunks, then at me." Pan explained, "I yelled back, and Trunks tried to stop us from fighting, and Maria didn't like that. She stormed out of the house and left. So we went to have our spar, but were interrupted by Bulma when we put a hole in the side of the house."

"Pan!" Trisha waved a finger at her, "You were actually flirting with Trunks!"

"Iie, we were just sparring!"

"Whatever, not for you it wasn't." Bra winked.

Pan scowled. She crossed her arms and flopped on the couch,

"Well it doesn't matter anyway; I'm leaving in a few days." She said.

"Hai, let's not talk about that again." Bra went to her closet and slipped on a pair of shoes, she looked at Pan again, "You need to change, put these on, and take a quick shower, you smell."

"Well, gee, arigatou!" Pan said sarcastically.

"Just hurry up already, we're leaving in thirty minutes." Bra smirked.

Pan hopped in the shower and washed herself down as quickly as possible. She dried off and got dressed at top speed and went back into the bedroom. The three girls were gone. Pan looked in the hallway before leaving the room. She wasn't about to bump into Trunks for the third time that morning. Crash…Pan fell into the wall as someone ran into her.

"Pan!" Trunks said, "Gomen, that time it was my fault." He grinned at her as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Yea, yea, yea." She mumbled, "Just get out of my way!"

She winked at him as she made her way to the stairs. _Why did I do that?_ She wondered, her cheeks burned as she reached the stairs. Don't look back, she kept telling herself, but she did anyway. She smiled at Trunks who was looking at her with a weird look on his face, he smiled back at her and she went down to the first floor. She could hear the girls' voices from the kitchen. She made her way around the corner and sat down next to Stephanie taking a piece of her bacon.

"Hey!" Stephanie complained, "That was mine! You already ate breakfast."

Pan swallowed and laughed at her,

"Hai, but I just had cereal! A quarter-saiyajin like myself can't fill up on that." Pan smiled, "That was the extent of Trunks' cooking, as he put it."

The girls laughed. Bra finished her eggs and bacon before Pan could take some of hers,

"What are you girls doing still here?" Bulma had just walked into the kitchen.

"We're just getting ready to leave!" Bra said happily.

"Ok, well Bra make sure you don't go over budget!" Bulma said warningly. "And be careful while you guys are out today. And I'm counting on you three to keep Bra from going crazy."

Bulma eyed the girls and they nodded. She made her way out of the kitchen and into one of the living rooms. She picked up a pair of boots and walked up the stairs yelling at Vegeta.

"She wont do anything if I go over."

"Iie, you're wrong about that." Pan pointed at Bra, "Don't you remember when we were 15 and came home late with about two thousand more than we had set out for?"

Bra flinched, she bit her bottom lip and frowned.

"Yea, that was bad."

Stephanie and Trisha shared a confused look,

"Well what happened?" They demanded.

Pan started laughing; Bra glared at her making her double over and laugh more. That was a very amusing day…

"_Oh come on Pan, let's just go to one more store!" Bra begged_

"_Bra don't you realize how over you are on your kasan's budget?" Pan asked, "Fifteen hundred! That's a lot, my parents would have a stroke! Plus we're late as it is, we were suppose to be back an hour ago"_

_Bra shrugged,_

"_My kasan wont care, she just gives me a limit so people can't say I get whatever I want. And I really don't have a curfew. She just likes me home before she goes to bed." _

_Pan shook her head, Bra did get whatever she wanted._

_Bra chuckled and pushed her into another store._

_** 1 hour later **_

_The walked into the living room where Bulma was waiting for them; and to Pan's utter surprise Vegeta was standing next to her. She put the bags down as quietly as she could while Bra smiled at her parents._

"_Oh hi kasan. Tousan what are you doing out here?" Bra giggled and went up to kiss her tousan on the cheek._

"_Just what exactly made you think you could stay out till 11pm?" Bulma asked threateningly. _

_Bra's face fell,_

"_I told you to be back by 9pm!" Bulma fumed. _

_Bra jumped, her mom had just yelled at her! _

"_You are not respecting the authority that I…we…have put in place for you!" Bulma had one hand on her hip and the other pointing furiously at her daughter, "How dare you disobey what I told you directly! I gave you a curfew and I expected you to abide by it!"_

_Bra frowned and tears began to well up in her eyes. _

"_I…I was just having fun…and we lost track of time…" She managed to get out through her sobs._

_Vegeta looked disgusted,_

"_Stop your blubbering brat!" He snapped._

_Bra looked up at her tousan,_

"_You were given a limit, and a curfew and you managed to break them both." He growled, "You are in need of punishment." _

_Was that a smile on Vegeta's face? Pan couldn't believe it, she didn't think Vegeta knew how to smile. Bra whimpered, what exactly was she going to get done to her?_

"_Bra, you are grounded for two months!" Bulma said._

_Bra stopped crying and stared at her kasan her mouth agape._

"_Two months?" She shrieked, "Nani!?"_

"_And!" Bulma raised her voice so she could be heard, "You are going to spend those two months training with your father."_

_Pan's mouth fell open, Bra train? That was definitely going to be punishment…_

"_Nani!?" Bra cried again, "Why do I have to train?"_

"_If you are going to be running around so late at night you need to know how to defend yourself!" Bulma seethed, "We will discuss this matter again in two months, and I'll decide if you can have your card back."_

_Bulma held her hand out and Bra pursed her lips. She narrowed her eyes and glared at her parents, she yanked her wallet out of her purse and slapped her card in Bulma's hand…_

"Wow." Trisha looked at Bra.

Bra had her eyes closed and was muttering to herself. She had plugged her ears when Pan began to tell the story and glared at her for telling them.

"Well forget it!" Bra snarled, "I don't care, that was then. This is now."

Pan rolled her eyes.

"Bra you never said you knew how to fight." Stephanie said, "How was it training with your tousan?"

Bra shuddered,

"I don't like to think about it." She said, "It was the worst two months of my life. I think he was upset that I didn't want to continue once I was ungrounded, but I was not about to waste my time learning how to shoot light balls out of my hands and flying around."

Pan grimaced, light balls?

"Did you seriously just say light balls?" Pan asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh sorry, ki balls." Bra blushed.

"Ki blasts!" Pan snapped.

"Whatever." Bra shrugged, "Anyway, it was not to my liking!"

"Well let's get out of here." Stephanie suggested, "I need to be back home by two."

"Hai, I do also." Trisha got up from her seat and put her plate in the sink.

Pan crossed her arms,

"We're going to go to the mall for that long?" She asked.

"Pan, how many times have you gone shopping with me?" Bra asked sarcastically.

"Too many times!" Pan snarled.

Trisha and Stephanie laughed at Pan's annoyance. Pan glared at them and stalked off towards the front door.

"Well let's get on with it then!" Pan hollered back at them.

They followed Pan out to the car and made their way to the mall.


	3. Preparations

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ **

**Authors note: Here is chapter 2 shortened, please R&R and let me know your thoughts on this fic! **

**Chapter 2 – Preparations**

1:25pm

Pan looked at her watch for the hundredth time. It was almost time to leave; the girls had to be home soon. The three girls in front of her walked into a store on her right and she grumbled. She followed them inside, setting the plethora of bags she was carrying down next to a chair. _Thank Dende this store has a chair_. She slumped into the chair and closed her eyes, she was very tense. Bra had purchased almost a whole new wardrobe for herself, and got a handful for each of her friends. Much to Pan's dismay, they were not clothes she would have chosen.

1:27pm

Pan frowned, was her watch broken? She was sure it was time to leave now. Pan slapped her knee in frustration. Why did it take so long for those girls to look at the exact same outfit a hundred times? They were still at the same exact rack! Pan clenched her teeth as she fumed. Her anger was causing a slight disturbance in the store and one glare from Bra brought her back into check. She glared back at Bra and crossed her arms, she was sick of waiting on those girls. They had been at it all morning and afternoon, and they had not stopped to eat!

1:30pm

Pan jumped up from her chair and smiled. Finally! It was time to leave; she was going to get out of this stupid mall!

"Let's go now!" Pan said to the three girls who were browsing, "It's one thirty, we need to get this stuff to the car and get going so you guys can be home on time."

Trisha looked at Pan and laughed,

"We can always count on you to keep us from being late anywhere huh?" She asked.

Pan rolled her eyes, she didn't care about that. She just wanted to leave!

"Oh come on Pan, has it really been that terrible to hang out with your friends all morning?"

Pan scowled,

"Iie, you know that's not what's wrong." She snapped, "I don't like shopping! Why couldn't we have done something else?"

"Like what? We're not sixteen anymore Pan, not like we can just go to a park or something."

Pan crossed her arms, what was wrong with the park? She still had plenty of fun at the park. Albeit not in the same way as when she was younger, but it was so fun to scare the kids. Bra picked up a few of the bags at Pans feet.

"Ok, lets go." Bra said.

The ride back to Capsule Corp. was only ten minutes but it still seemed like an hour to Pan. She knew the girls were killing themselves trying to not say what they were thinking. None of them wanted her to go so far away for College, even though she could fly back and visit within just a couple of hours, the time she would have to do that would be slim.

Finally they pulled into the drive way in front of Capsule Corp. The three girls got out ahead of Pan and said their goodbyes. Pan hugged Stephanie and Trisha,

"I'll see you guys Saturday for the party." Pan said, "Don't forget the gifts!"

Pan winked at the two and they laughed.

"Always thinking about what you're getting." Trisha rolled her eyes.

"Well, Ja Ne!" Stephanie waved as she climbed into her car.

Trisha called her own 'Ja Ne' as she shut her car door.

Bra dropped her arm once they were out of sight and rounded on Pan. She crossed her arms and glared at her,

"You really need to work on your emotions, Pan." She snapped, "The whole time we were out I could tell you were miserable and thinking of nothing else but your leaving. It really ruins the whole mood! We were trying to have fun on one of the last days we would be spending with each other and you were slumping around like you were being drug on a leash!"

Pan frowned, who was she kidding? How could she not be miserable shopping with those three? Who wouldn't be miserable? And exactly how did she think Pan was supposed to not think about her leaving; or to hide her emotions? It wasn't exactly something you could push to the back of your mind!

"I can't exactly ignore the fact that I'm leaving my family and friends in three days." Pan snarled, "I'm going to a city that I've never been to, and I don't know a soul there! Not to mention the little problem about food! How am I going to survive on a lunch ticket? It won't last me a week! I can't believe that you're talking to me about my emotions, the fact that your yelling at me for not concealing the way I feel is hypocritical! You go around the house whining all the time about everything!"

Bra smirked,

"Doesn't it feel better to let things out; rather than bottling it all up inside?" She grinned.

Pan opened her mouth to retort but shut it. She was furious! That was a setup that she fell flat on her face for. She crossed her arms and stalked into the house.

She went straight to the kitchen. She slumped on one of the barstools and laid her head on her arms.

"What's wrong with you?" Bulma's voiced interrupted Pan's thoughts.

Pan lifted her head and looked at Bulma, she couldn't help but chuckle. Bulma's hair was a mess, her apron was covered in what looked like gravy, while her shirt underneath seemed to be sizzling from being singed. Pan smiled,

"Nothing. I'm just starving!"

Bulma narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Pan,

"Well get on, I'll call when it's ready."

Pan reluctantly got up from her seat and went into the Living room across from the kitchen. She sat down on the couch and got comfortable. It was going to be a long afternoon. She had to go home after she ate and find out what her parents had planned on for her food. She ate so much as it is, how was she supposed to do that at college? She was determined not to agree to come home each night; that would not be an option. She had to figure some way to solve this.

Pan tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Bulma to announce that lunch was finally ready. What was taking so long? What happened to the robots that fixed their food for them? She had heard that Bulma's cooking was not that great, and it smelled like what she heard was true. She wrinkled her nose as the smell of something burning reached her.

Bulma came around the corner and hollered up the stairs to let everyone know food was ready. By the time Pan got up from her seat and walked into the kitchen, Vegeta was stuffing his face across the table, already on his 10th plate. Trunks and Bra sat down at the table and Pan joined them.

They all ate in silence, no one really wanting to attempt to speak with their mouths full and overflowing. Pan had mashed potatoes on her chin, and she could feel the gravy making its way down her neck. She choked her bite down and reached for a napkin. Trunks had one in his hand and wiped it off giving her a wink. Pan blushed and whispered her arigatou then wiped her face again with her own napkin. She burped loudly; she didn't bother trying to quiet it, and smiled; everyone around her continued to eat not paying much attention.

Pan got up from the table, her stomach full. She was sure she'd be fine until dinner in a couple of hours. She waved at everyone at the table,

"Well, ja ne." She said, "Arigatou for the food Bulma. I'll see you guys Saturday!"

Bra swallowed her bite and jumped up from the table. She ran over to Pan and grabbed her wrist dragging her into the other room. The floor was littered with bags from their shopping, and some of the contents were strewn around on the floor and furniture.

Pan could see tears glistening in her best friends eyes, and she frowned. Bra had been so emotional the past few days with Pan's flight leaving so soon. Pan frowned at Bra.

Bra couldn't hold the tears in anymore, and without sobbing she began to cry silently. She pursed her lips and shut her eyes tight. Pan could tell she had tried really hard to keep from breaking down like this. Pan put her arms around Bra and hugged her tight,

"I can't…hic…believe you're…hic…going to be…hic…gone." Bra managed to get out.

Pan sighed; she didn't like Bra being so sad. She really felt like Bra was over reacting.

"Bra, please don't do this. You know it won't be long before we'll see each other. I'm sure I'll fly in once a month, maybe twice. Plus we can talk on the phone over the weekends and as often as I can during the week." Pan tried to cheer her friend up, but it didn't seem to work.

Bra nodded and took a deep breath, her tears continued to fall but she smiled at Pan again.

"Don't worry about me," She said, her voice was scratchy, "I'll be fine. Go home and finish what you have left to do."

Pan smiled back at Bra,

"I'll see you in a couple of days, party starts at ten right?"

Bra nodded in response, and Pan could see her struggle to swallow. Pan frowned again, but hugged her friend goodbye. She picked up her two bags and made for the front door, she opened it and looked back at Bra once more. Bra waved at her and wiped her tears away and smiled. Pan grinned and waved back,

"Ja ne!" she called as she took to the air.

Pan flew towards her home her eyes were stinging with the tears that were begging to be released. They were building up and forcing their way out of her eyes. The wind blew them away before they made it half way down her cheeks. People change so much in college, and Bra wasn't going to be there to change with her. What if they didn't get along after four years?

Pan powered up a little and flew faster.

Pan frowned as she felt a drop of rain fall onto her nose. It began to pour and she was drenched with in seconds, but didn't care. Her kasan would now have a hard time noticing that she had cried quite a bit. She smiled to herself, her kasan would notice as soon as she walked in the door. She could always tell when Pan was upset about something or hiding anything. It used to be very annoying…

_Pan stood in front of her mirror and let her hair down. She wiped any trace of tears from her face and took a few deep breaths. Her cheeks were a little pink, but she could blame that on the sun, she had been outside quite a bit that day. She tried to flatten her bangs as far over her eyes as possible, not wanting her kasan to see she'd been crying. What a silly thing to be crying about anyway, Vegeta hadn't hurt her physically. She had just gotten her ego hurt, and didn't like it._

"_So what if I can't go super-saiyajin yet, I will." Pan sneered to herself. "I'll be the first female to do it, just let them watch!"_

_She crossed her arms and couldn't get his voice out of her head, 'You brat, you're a weakling! Goten and Trunks were half your age and could go Super Saiyajin!' So what if her Jisan was seven when he turned Super Saiyajin? She would get there, and soon. She wasn't about to take any of that from Vegeta anymore. 'You're female, so you probably can't go Super Saiyajin.' _

_Pan clenched her teeth and was about to yell out when there was a knock on her door. She glanced at herself in the mirror and cursed herself for crying so much. Her kasan walked in with a stack of laundry and went to put it on the bed. Pan tried to busy herself with a book, but she settled on her MP3 player instead. She moved to put the earphones in when her Kasan looked at her,_

"_What's wrong Pan?" Videl asked. _

"_Honto?" Pan looked up, trying to seem surprised but not surprised at all, "What do you mean?"_

_Videl crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her daughter,_

"_You've been crying." She said, "Spill." _

_Pan rolled her eyes, she could never hide anything from her kasan…_

"_Bra, Iie!" Pan seethed, "I'm not doing it."_

"_Oh come on Pan! No one will know!" Bra whined, "It's just one drink, besides we're almost eighteen anyway, it wont even matter!"_

_Pan looked at the wine cooler Bra was holding out to her. What if Bulma walked in on them, or worse, Trunks? Trisha and Stephanie were giggling next to her, both on their second drink. Pan grabbed the bottle from Bra and took a drink. It was very good, and she gladly accepted her second, and third, and fourth…_

"_Pan get up!" _

_Something hard hit Pan on the head, she yelped in pain and rolled over. She felt like someone was smashing bricks on her head. She opened her eyes, but shut them again as searing pain filled her head. What was so bright? She moaned as she sat up and swayed back and forth. _

"_What time is it?" Pan mumbled. _

"_It's seven thirty! We're late!" Bra exclaimed. _

"_Seven thirty already!? Nani! Why didn't you wake me sooner?" Trisha cried. _

_Stephanie groaned as she joined the girls getting ready for school. She frowned at the lot of them, then began to laugh un controllably. The three shared confused looks before turning back to Stephanie,_

"_Don't you guys remember we don't have school today? It's some stupid conference or something." Stephanie finally informed them. "Now would you guys please stop talking so I can go back to sleep?"_

_Pan heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back into the bed. She curled under the blankets ready to drift off again. Bra and Trisha shrugged and followed the other twos lead. They weren't left alone long when there was a banging on the door. _

"_Ahh!" The four girls cried out in unison. _

_Bra jumped up and pulled the door open, she glared at her niisan. _

"_Trunks! What did you do that for?" She demanded._

_Trunks grinned at his neechan, _

"_Kasan asked that I get you girls down stairs, Videl is here for Pan and she didn't want you guys sleeping all day; and something about needing help outside."  
_

_Trunks shrugged and walked off. Bra slammed the door behind him and dropped into her chair. _

"_Great, this just sucks. The last person I want to walk into with a hangover is my kasan." Bra mumbled. _

_Pan paled as she thought of this, her kasan would know for sure she was up to something. _

"_My kasan is going to kill me!" Pan cried, "What am I going to do, she'll know right away what we've done! I told you iie Bra, but you didn't listen you kept pushing me!"_

_Bra winced at the sound of Pan's voice getting louder and louder, _

"_Please stop yelling!" She demanded, "I didn't force you to, I just wanted you to try it." _

"_Well now I have and I'm done for!" Pan stalked around the room picking up her clothes as she went, dressing as quickly as she could. "Maybe I'll just fly straight home and you can tell her I went home earlier?"_

"_Iie, Trunks saw you already." Bra squashed that plan. _

_Trisha and Stephanie were dressing in silence, both of them seemed to be clenching their teeth in concentration. All four of them had bloodshot eyes, and their breath was sure to smell like alcohol. They took turns in the bathroom, trying their hardest to hide the fact that they were up till 2am drinking illegally. _

_As they made their way downstairs Pan stayed in the back and tried to duck around her kasan and into a barstool far away from her. Her kasan stopped her with an arm and a furrowed brow,_

"_Pan, what's wrong with you?" She demanded._

"_Honto?" Pan asked with a grin, "What do you mean?" _

_Videl frowned at her daughter, she crossed her arms, _

"_What have you been up to? You look like you haven't gotten much sleep."_

_Bra glanced nervously at her friends, _

"_We were up late chatting!" She interjected, "You know us girls, we lose track of time so easily!" _

_Videl looked suspiciously at Pan. She was about to say something then changed her mind, _

"_I think I know how to get to the bottom of this." She mumbled to herself. _

_Videl stood up and walked over to the sink, the four girls sighed with relief and slouched in their seats. Videl went un noticed by them and grabbed a dirty pan and a spoon. She walked over to where the girls were resting their heads in their arms, she shared a look with Bulma before banging on the pan very hard. The sound was so loud and all the girls cried out. _

"_Ahh! What was that for?" Bra demanded as she held her head in pain. _

"_How dare you girls do this!" Videl screeched, "You're too young to drink, and to get drunk no less!" _

Pan dropped in front of her house and walked in the front door. A small puddle formed around her feet as the water drained from her hair and clothes. She shut the door quietly, trying to sneak in without alerting her kasan yet. She wanted to get upstairs and clean up first.

"Pan, is that you?"

Pan growled to herself, so much for that idea.

"Hai, kasan it's me." She called back.

Videl came around the corner and looked at Pan,

"Pan, what's wrong?" She demanded at once.


End file.
